So I mostly print organic shapes, and haven’t run into this issue until I started printing parts on 3D hubs. Whenever I print a flat sided object, the side with supports not only gets the little support point bumps (expected), but the whole surface tends to get rippled look as well. Am I not putting enough supports or too many?
I try to even space as much as possible. I’m wondering if the prints sag under their own weight maybe? Here’s an example. The part on the left is straight off the printer. Part on the right has been sanded. As you can see, a lot of sanding and still not quite flat. You can mainly see the ripple on the outer edge of the un-sanded part. Any tips would be appreciated!
Can you upload your .form file or images of your orientation? It looks like these might be printed a bit too flat which can cause ‘pitting’. You should check out our new part orientation video for tips!
It looks like this is tilted around 20 degrees which is adequate for some geometries but tilting a bit more might help with this part. I’m a big fan of using a 45 degree rotation for parts that allow it. This ensures that forces are evenly distributed and creates a uniform overhang angle for most features. In your case, a 45 degree angle would take stress off of that internal overhang and very likely improve the bottom surface finish. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes and if you continue to run into issue, we’ll troubleshoot further.
I had to print a new part last night that was basically a good old rectangular slab. I gave it a much higher tilt than I normally would, and didn’t get the pitting. So, yep, definitely worth adding some extra print time with the added height vs the alternative. Thanks gang!
